solved Collect multiple items then act on them

[tanzpartner]

Hi all,

 

there is this nifty little app called Dropover where you get an overlay "basket" and can add stuff from different directories or folders to the selection and then do something with the whole bunch (mostly moving/copying to a different place, or sending it to messages... stuff like that)

 

I would much prefer if I could rebuild this functionality in Alfred.

 

I could of course create a little script that appends paths to a textfile - but that means I'm pretty much limited to what the terminal and terminal commands can do (yes, that's a lot already and for copying moving this would probably suffice).

 

But perhaps there is a better way to do this with Alfred?

Edited April 24 by tanzpartner
spelling

[Stephen_C]

Maybe the best place to start is with Alfred's File Buffer and the File Buffer Action.

 

Stephen

[tanzpartner]

Ha! I knew this feature was probably already there...

 

However, strangely, the the keys listed in the first link are not bound to those actions on my system and I can't find where to assign them...

 

But yes, from the description - this probably does what I would like to do...

[Stephen_C]

Go to Alfred Preferences → File Search, click on the Buffer tab and check Enable temporary file buffer.

 

Stephen

[tanzpartner]

It was enabled and there the bindings are listed.

 

However, it does not show up as a shortcut in the file actions menu nor does Alfred react and add the selected file to the buffer unless I use the arrow keys (without alt) to move down the list and manually activate "Add to file buffer" by pressing enter.

 

So something is weird on my system that prevents this function.

[Stephen_C]

Ah, sorry, I've just checked and in order to make it work for me I had to check the Compatibility: option and so use ⇧ with the modifier key.

 

Edit: Note, too, the buffer works with a selected file in Alfred's results.

 

Stephen

Edited April 24 by Stephen_C

[tanzpartner]

Hmm... yes, the keycommands work in the mail Alfred window - not when calling the file actions... too bad, cause that's where I would need it more. Navigating in the main window takes way too long..

 

Or am I missing another feature that makes it easier to get to files in the main Alfred window?

The way I'm doing it now is navigating down the tree starting from /Volumes by typing and tab-completing - not very efficient...

[Stephen_C]

You can start from Home by typing ~.

 

However, in Alfred's default results I've checked Folders which means I can simply type the name of a Folder and press ⏎ to open it in Finder. Of course, you can always → from the folder name then to action the folder in Alfred (depending on your settings under Universal Actions Show Actions: in Alfred's preferences).

 

Stephen

[tanzpartner]

Hmm... maybe I have to add more (a lot more...) folders to the folders list... but I don't have _any_ data that I have to work with in ~/ or anywhere on the system drive... it all sits on the 10 permanently mounted external drives - and there is a lot of data... 

 

So really the file action is where the file buffer would be most practical to me: I have the project folder open, I select and add 3 files that I need to send to the team, then remember I also needed to send file 4 that is in one of the subfolders, so I would like to add that to the file buffer... and just remembered also file 5 that was on the top level... oh and also these 3 audio files need to go with it - that's how I collect what I need to exchange with the team... yes, yes, yes, completely shared or synced folders or file systems, I get it, that would be nice, but we have people in the team who can and regularly will ruin those shared folders, which then breaks stuff for everyone... so we have to stick with manual syncing for the foreseeable future.

 

The way I'm currently doing it is to just select the files I need to send, then trigger an Alfred workflow that copies those files to a "send" directory, go through the project folder to select the next couple of files and so on and at the end I go to the send directory and create a zip and upload - if I could just collect all those files in the buffer I could trigger the compress and upload when I'm done collecting files...

 

[vitor]

8 minutes ago, tanzpartner said:

if I could just collect all those files in the buffer

 

I’ll preface this by saying I’m not sure I understand the problem. You can add files to the buffer by selecting them in the Finder then triggering the Universal Action shortcut and picking Add File to Buffer. Or by finding any file in an Alfred search and pressing ⌥↑ or ⌥↓. Have you seen the File Buffer documentation? You don’t need to find the files via Navigation, File Search works too, as do File Filters and other workflow objects.

[tanzpartner]

Yes, I have found the buffer, but as I said in an earlier answer, for some weird reason, on my system the file action menu entry for "Add File to Buffer" does _not_ have or react to the keycommand. Yes, I've checked the settings in preferences and even then "Compatibility" check box is on (also, it didn't work when it was off...).

 

So yes, if I could select the files, call up the file action and then hit a key-combination to add those files to the buffer that's really all I would like to have.

 

I don't understand why the key command isn't available for me... if you have an idea of what I could check to see why it isn't available, please let me know! If've already checked all the commands and assignments in the Keyboard -> Keyboard Shortcuts preference pane, alt-arrow up is not used anywhere.

[vitor]

I’m not sure I understand what you mean by the key combination or the key command. When you are at the Universal Actions panel you just press ↩. Here:

 

You only press ⌥↓ or ⌥↑ on regular results. Here:

 

If that’s what you’re doing, would you mind recording a short video? Sometimes these things end up being a miscommunication that is resolved when actually seeing the behaviour.

[tanzpartner]

I got it working.

 

I was confused with the keycommand alt+up arrow - I thought that key command would work in the file actions window - which would have been quicker than typing "buffer" (or at least "buf") and then hitting enter.

 

But it does not, that keycommand is for Alfreds main window. 

 

This method (call file action then type buf) is still a little faster than and above all doesn't loose non-consecutive file selections, so thank you!